will suffice until…'He did not finish the sentence. He did not have to.
Bolitho said flatly, 'My carpenters have made a few pieces of furniture. I thought that they might help to make the fortress a little more comfortable for Miss Seton.'
Pomfret eyed him far several seconds. 'Considerate. Most considerate. Yes, you can send them over if you wish.' He walked to the windows and, added quickly, 'We sail on the first of the month. Just have your ship ready by that time.' He was staring at the black hulled convict ship which was anchored at the head of the transports. 'Scum! The sweepings of Newgate, I imagine. But they will suffice for what remains to be done here.' Then without turning he said, 'Carry on, Bolitho.'
Bolitho walked out to the dazzling sunlight, realising suddenly that Pomfret had not once congratulated him or his men on saving the precious supply ships and even managing to cripple two of the attackers at the same time. It was typical of the man, he thought bitterly. Pomfret obviously took such efforts for granted. Only if they had failed would he have made any real comment, and he could imagine what that would have been.
In silence he climbed into his barge and settled himself in the sternsheets. As the oars rose and dipped like wings he thought of Dalby and the empty desperation of his last words. Gambling. It was the curse and the despair of many other officers. Confined to their ships for months at a time, thrust on one another's company and separated by rigid discipline from the men they controlled, it was common enough for such men as Dalby to lose everything on the flick of a card. What started out as a safe distraction became real and overwhelming as the losers fought to regain their dwindling money by betting with wealth they did not possess.
Bolitho knew the true dangers of such behaviour. His own brother had broken his father's heart by deserting from the Navy after killing a brother officer in a senseless duel over a gambling debt.
He shook himself from his brooding and said sharply, 'Pull for the transport yonder!'
Allday looked up at him. 'The Erebus, Captain?'
Bolitho nodded. 'The survivors of the Snipe are aboard her.'
Allday eased the tiller and said nothing. It was hardly a post-captain's task to go looking for a few casual recruits, and there could not be more than a handful who had survived, but he knew from experience that Bolitho was deeply troubled. When he was like that it was better to say nothing at all.
As it happened the captain of the Erebus was waiting to receive Bolitho, his tanned features split in a great grin of welcome.
'I wanted to thank you, Captain!' He pumped Bolitho's hand mercilessly. 'You saved my ship, an' I never saw the likel When your old Hyperion tacked round under the Frog's bowsprit I thought you were done for!'
Bolitho let him go on for several minutes then said, 'Thank you, Captain. Now I expect you have guessed why I am here?'
He nodded. 'Aye. But I'm afraid there are only six hands and an officer fit enough for you. There are three more besides, but I fear they'll die before the week is.out' He broke off and stared suddenly at Bolitho's face. 'Are you ill, sir?' He. took his arm and added, 'You have gone quite palel'
Bolitho shook himself free, cursing the man's kindness and his own unpreparedness as the old fever stirred like a raw wound, and he felt the deck slanting beneath his feet as if the ship was in a gale instead of a sheltered harbour.
He replied harshly, 'I will return to my ship, Captain. It is nothing…' He looked round, searching for Allday, suddenly fearful of collapsing here in front of the other captain and his men.
It was worse than usual. He did not remember it being so bad since he had left Kent to take passage for Gibraltar. His mind seemed to be revolving like his vision, so that even the Erebus's captain appeared to sway as if in a heat haze.
But Allday was here. He could feel his fingers gentle but firm on his arm and allowed himself to be guided to the ladder, his shoes catching on the deck planks like a blind man's.
The other captain called, 'The sloop's officer, sir! Shall I send him across?' It was a question merely to cover his own embarrassment. He knew that if he tried to help Bolitho it would only add to his pain.
Bolitho tried to speak, but he was shivering so badly that the words would not come.
He heard Allday snarl, 'Eyes in the boat there!' and he guessed his barge crew were all watching and probably laughing at him.
Allday looked up at the other captain and said gruffly, 'Send him across, sir. He'll be needed right enough.'
The Erebus's captain nodded. He did not even seem to notice that it was a mere coxswain who was giving him his orders.
Bolitho said faintly, 'Get me to the ship, Aliday! For the love of God get me to her quickly!'
Allday wrapped the boatcioak around Bolitho's shoulders and cradled him against his arm. But for it he knew Bolitho would fall down to the bottom of the boat like a corpse. He had seen it all before, and he was filled with pity and something like love. He was angry, too. Angry with the admiral who had kept Bolitho waiting when anyone but a blind fool could have seen what the battle had done to his reserves of inner strength.
He barked, 'Shove off! Give way together!' As the oars rose and fell he added coldly, `Roundly! Pull like you've never pulled before!' He looked down at Bolitho's strained features and said half to himself, 'That's the least you can do for him!'
Bolitho opened his eyes very slowly and stared for a full minute at the deckhead above his cot. For once the dull roaring in his ears seemed to have faded, and he was suddenly conscious oЂ the intrusion of shipboard noises and once more he could hear the steady sluice of water against the hull and the far-off sounds of voices.
Almost timidly he tried to move his arms and legs, but the layers of blankets held him so tightly that he lay still and tried to assemble his thoughts into some sort of order. He could remember leaving the Erebus in his barge, even to the •extent that he could still feel the agony of waiting to reach the safety of his cabin. It had seemed as if the Hyperion would never draw any closer, and all the while he had fought to stay upright in the tossing boat, aware vaguely of the sweating oarsmen and Allday's arm around his shoulders.
But the actual moment of climbing aboard had gone completely. The memories were all jumbled together in crude half-pictures of swaying figures and distorted, meaningless voices around him. The fever bad raged like a tormenting nightmare, with faces sweeping occasionally above him and hands holding or moving him, over which he had no control. Some of the time he must have been dreaming, only to awake shivering and retching uncontrollably with a throat so dry that he felt his tongue swollen to such a degree that he imagined himself choking to death.
Either awake or in an exhausted sleep he had also been aware of a white triangle that bore no relation or meaning to anything he had ever known before. It seemed to come and go like a tiny sail, never close enough to identify, yet in his reeling mind it appeared to hold a magic quality of comfort.
He turned his head slowly, feeling the sweat on his pillow and the clammy embrace of the sheets, Beside the cot, round-shouldered with concentration, Gimlett was watching him, his body appearing to sway back and forth like a human pendulum.
Bolitho asked, 'How long have I been here?' He hardly recognised his own voice. Gimlett reached out and plucked at the pillow in an effort to make it more comfortable. 'Three days, zur.' He gave a yelp of alarm as Bolitho tried to push the blankets aside.
'Three days!' Bolitho stared around the small compartment with disbelief. 'In God's name get me up!'
Allday's figure moved across his vision, his face set in a grim smile of satisfaction. 'Easy, Captain! You've had a bad time.' Then he reached down and tucked the blankets even tighter.
Bolitho felt his eyes clouding with helpless anger. 'Damn you, Allday! Help me up! I am ordering you, d'you hear?'
But Aliday only stared at him with complete calm. 'I'm sorry, Captain. But the surgeon said that you were to stay until he…
Bolitho suddenly realised that the cot was swinging steadily and both Gimlett and Allday were really swaying. As he twisted his head round he saw the red sunlight darting across the deckhead as the ship lifted and plunged in a steady swell.
He murmured thickly, 'My God, we are at sea!' He saw Allday dart a quick glance at Gimtett and added desperately, 'How did Rooke manage to get her out of the harbour?'
Allday stepped closer, his face near enough for Bolitho to see the shadows of strain beneath his eyes. 'It is all right, Captain, believe me!' He gestured towards the open window. 'We are anchored to the east'rd of Cozar, below the Moorish fort. We came out this forenoon as smooth as a young girl's belly!'
